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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324260">kitchens and hearts aflame</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kunimi/pseuds/kunimi'>kunimi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>college au prompts list [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, First Meetings, M/M, iwa just wants some REST, too bad oikawa and bokuto cannot cook</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 16:21:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,721</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324260</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kunimi/pseuds/kunimi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Threatening violence against someone you just met! What a brute, Iwa-chan!”</p><p>“He’s very annoying,” Hajime said to Kuroo instead of replying to Oikawa himself.</p><p>“He is,” Kuroo agreed, ignoring Oikawa’s furious muttering.</p><p>/</p><p>Iwaizumi Hajime just wants to sleep. Unfortunately, Apartment 324 has other plans. His friends don't help the situation. or: you keep setting off the fire alarm after two in the morning and I swear to god, I will crush your spirit if you do it one more time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>college au prompts list [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1677370</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>180</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>kitchens and hearts aflame</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/theflyingpiano/gifts">theflyingpiano</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>happy birthday kunimi!! i know it's over in most timezones (including mine, whoops), but i started this at the end of his birthday in my timezone so i'm just chuffed to get it out before it's over everywhere lmao. unbeta-ed, so my mistakes are mine.</p><p>this is for leah, who has indulged me ever since i fell into this fandom, and especially recently, when what was meant to be a random hypothetical question ("what houses do you reckon they'd be sorted into?") turned into a fully fledged au with multiple pages of google sheets and more than sixty characters sorted.</p><p>also because she experienced my crisis over kunimi's height and was suffering right there in the trenches with me. definition of friendship. (i still love you, kunimi, even if you sent me into crisis mode)</p><p>anyway, this is not relevant to either our hogwarts headcanons or height crises, but this is for you, leah, for being so helpful, indulgent, and just down to talk about these kids and send me recs and deal with whatever nonsense i scream at you over messages. i still feel a little rusty with writing and am a bit nervous with trying these kids for the first time, but i hope you enjoy regardless! college first-meeting au, because why not? these two'll find each other in every universe.</p><p>(also, totally took a guess with your username on here lmao. drag me on discord if i've got the wrong one)</p><div class="center">
  <p>-:-</p>
</div><b>prompt:</b> you keep setting off the fire alarm after two in the morning and I swear to god, I will crush your spirit if you do it one more time
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hajime did not consider himself an unreasonable person.</p><p>He was fairly patient, he thought. Sure, sometimes he lost his temper at Kyoutani and Kunimi, but in his defence, Kyoutani had literally knocked Kindaichi off a parade float at the time, and Kunimi was… well, <em> Kunimi</em>. He could drive a saint to murder.</p><p>But most of the time, Hajime was patient. He put up with Yamagata constantly losing literally everything he had ever owned in their floor’s common room; he put up with Kageyama following him around their residential hall’s gym court for the last two and a half weeks trying to analyse his spike; he even valiantly put up with Daishou in class for an entire three weeks before begging Mika-san to swap seats with him. Hajime would normally never force someone through such a thing, but he was at his wits end, and Mika-san didn’t seem to mind. According to his new partner, Misaki, Mika-san had known Daishou from high school and was excellent at putting him in his place without stabbing him with a drawing compass. Hajime admired her self-restraint.</p><p>By his third year of living in Sakanoshita Hall, Hajime felt like he’d really entered the rhythm of his college years, and that nothing could compromise that.</p><p>Then Apartment 324 happened.</p><p>It wasn’t unheard of for students to switch residential halls, of course. It wasn’t particularly <em> common </em> in Sakanoshita—yet more evidence, Hajime privately thought, which proved his hall was the best one, even if Matsukawa, Hanamaki, Tendou and Kunimi living in the same building ought to be cause for alarm—but Hajime knew a lot of students ended up trying out multiple halls until either they settled on one that was right for them, or they graduated.</p><p>When he’d heard that there were new residents from Eita, he’d intended to be a welcoming presence. Honestly, he had.</p><p>Unfortunately, Hajime hadn’t even <em> met </em> them yet, and they’d already set off the fire alarm <em> five fucking times</em>. Each time <em> after </em> two in the goddamn morning.</p><p>“All right,” he growled, stomping out of the corridor and down the fire exit stairs to where they were meant to congregate outside. “You gotta point them out to me. I’m gonna wring their fucking necks.”</p><p>Daichi just laughed.</p><p>“I’m with Iwaizumi,” Sugawara said from the other side of Daichi, voice muffled by the extremely large coat he’d pulled on to counter the chill of the night air. “It’s getting a bit ridiculous.”</p><p>“Are you plotting murder, Iwaizumi-san?” Kunimi asked mildly, popping out of nowhere. Only a month of living with the straight-faced underclassman prevented Hajime from swearing in surprise.</p><p>God. It had only been a <em> month? </em> Hajime felt like he’d known Kunimi, Kindaichi and Kageyama for years, such was the toll they took on him. At least the kid with the awful fucking hair lived on the other end of the building. Whilst Hajime was sure he’d get to know them soon enough—Sakanoshita wasn’t <em> that </em> big—he was grateful for a few more weeks of only having to deal with Kunimi’s lot.</p><p>(That said, last time he’d expressed this much to Daichi, his roommate had looked at him in confusion and asked, “Which one?”</p><p>Hajime was not thrilled about the implication that there were multiple excitable freshmen with terrible hair living on the other side of the hall.)</p><p>“Yeah,” Sugawara answered in his stead. “If it’s the same apartment—”</p><p>“It is,” Hanamaki said cheerfully, coming up behind Kunimi and ruffling his hair, ignoring the baleful look the younger man shot him. “I heard Ukai and Takinoue swearing about them.”</p><p>“You look… awake,” Daichi said, surveying him with amusement.</p><p>“He wasn’t asleep,” Matsukawa put in, yawning as he did so. He dropped his chin onto Hanamaki’s shoulder, looking for all the world like he was prepared to fall asleep in that position.</p><p>“Unlike the rest of you, I don’t need beauty sleep,” Hanamaki said loftily. “I’m naturally blessed.”</p><p>“Mmhmm,” Matsukawa mumbled agreeably.</p><p>“Regular sleep’s probably the only thing which keeps Iwaizumi-san from yelling at Yahaba when he’s being… himself,” Kunimi mused. Sugawara choked a laugh.</p><p>“You really don’t hold back, do you?” he marvelled.</p><p>Kunimi shrugged. “Someone should tell him that just because he looks like a cream puff, he doesn’t have to act like one.”</p><p>Somewhere behind them, Hajime heard Kindaichi groan.</p><p>Electing to ignore Kindaichi’s distress, Kunimi’s personality, and Sugawara’s helpless laughter, he instead glanced around with a furrowed brow, as if whoever the annoying denizens of Apartment 324 were would be immediately obvious to him by way of some sort of visual marker. Devil horns, perhaps, or maybe a dunce cap that said <em> I CAN’T COOK </em> on it.</p><p>“Oi,” Hanamaki said, and Hajime glanced up. The taller man was nodding his head to the left, and Hajime followed his gaze to see three guys in varying levels of sensible dress for the night air. The closest one also had the strongest build, and was wearing what looked like a thin cotton tee shirt and boxer shorts. He also had some of the weirdest hair Hajime had ever seen, and he’d lived in the same building as <em> Tendou </em> for going on three years now. It was mostly white, and pointed on either side of his head, resembling nothing more than a horned owl. The guy next to him, however, possibly had even <em> worse </em> hair. It was black, as dark as Matsukawa’s, and looked vaguely like a rooster’s comb. Hajime winced imagining how Kunimi or Yahaba might describe it. He was wearing a black tank top, but unlike his shorter companion, he’d had the foresight to put on a jacket and track pants. The shorter man was boisterous—<em>really </em> fucking loud, although Hajime was having a hard time distinguishing actual words—and the taller one was laughing at him, but Hajime’s attention had strayed from the pair of them and settled on their third companion, and he was having a hard time looking away.</p><p>He was wearing cotton pyjama pants adorned with—Hajime squinted—what looked like alien heads, and a woollen cardigan over a grey shirt. His sleeve was singed, there was a pencil tucked behind his ear, and he was gesticulating wildly, apparently indignant at something the bedhead guy said.</p><p>He was also the most attractive person Hajime had ever seen.</p><p>“That’s Apartment 324,” Hanamaki continued, though the gleam in his eye made Hajime suspect he’d noticed the focus on the pretty boy. “Kuroo Tetsurou’s the one who looks like he’s laughing at them, he always looks like that—he’s cool, he’s in my chem class.”</p><p>“I know him from high school,” Daichi said unexpectedly. “He didn’t go to mine, but our schools were like sister schools? He’s a good guy, even if he likes his fun.” At the others’ questioning looks, he added, “He dared Nishinoya to—well, it’s a long story, but eight of us are now banned from the Skytree for life.”</p><p>Hanamaki cackled. Hajime groaned.</p><p>“I actually think you’ll like him, Hajime,” Daichi said thoughtfully. “He definitely likes his fun, but he’s got a knack for knowing limits, and he was always good at taking things in his stride and dealing with them. He’s a chem major, but he aced our calculus class last term, and I bet he’d help if you needed with that math assignment you have.”</p><p>Hajime blinked, consideringly, before his expression turned to a frown. “I’d settle for him just letting me sleep,” he grumbled.</p><p>“It’s probably Oikawa-san,” Kunimi said unexpectedly. Hajime turned on him next. “He doesn’t seem like he could cook.”</p><p>“Him or Bokuto,” Shirofuku said with a yawn, padding over in fluffy slippers, Shimizu’s arm linked with hers. “He always gets too into it and forgets something important, like turning off the stove.”</p><p>Hajime’s mouth fell open. That seemed like a significant thing to forget.</p><p>“He’s pretty good when he’s with Kuroo, though, so it’s probably Oikawa—this time, anyway. If Kuroo’s not home, then I’d put money on it being Bo’s fault,” she said.</p><p>“Oh, <em> that’s </em> Bokuto?” Daichi asked with interest. “From what I’d heard from Kuroo, I wouldn’t have thought he was particularly good at keeping him in line.”</p><p>“He’s not,” Shirofuku said with a laugh. “He probably pushes him more than anyone, but he’s at least usually smart enough to keep an eye out for whatever Bokuto forgets.”</p><p>“Which one’s which?” Hajime asked curiously, eyeing the trio again. The alien boy seemed to be pouting, and—actually, both of them seemed to be pouting at Kuroo, who seemed amused by it all.</p><p>“Bo’s the one who looks like a horned owl, and Oikawa’s the pretty one,” Shirofuku said wryly.</p><p>Shimizu wrinkled her nose. “It also looks like his sleeve was on fire,” she observed.</p><p>“So Kunimi was probably right then,” Hanamaki said. “Go yell at him, Iwaizumi.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Matsukawa said, stirring enough to open his eyes beseechingly at Hajime. “Defend my right to sleep through the night.”</p><p>“I’ll come,” Shirofuku said, eyes twinkling. “Introduce you and all before you start shouting. For propriety, of course.”</p><p>Hajime rolled his eyes, but it was fond; Shirofuku had always been cheeky, and he liked her warmth. She was good at drawing people out, he thought, but also at dealing with pretty much anything. She and Shimizu remained the only two people in the building who Shirabu hadn’t been successfully rude to yet; he’d even managed it to Ushijima once, but had never been able to avoid being wrangled by them, no matter how much he scowled.</p><p>To absolutely nobody’s surprise, they all ended up going—Shirofuku, Shimizu and Daichi leading the way, Hajime and the others half a step behind them.</p><p>“—it’s not <em> my </em> fault this idiot—” Oikawa was saying heatedly as they approached, looking incredibly put out, until Kuroo caught sight of them and, with an expression uncannily like that of a cat who had just been served a bowl of cream, interrupted him.</p><p>“Hey, Oikawa, which one were you talking about?” Hajime heard Kuroo say innocently, and furrowed his brow. </p><p>The tall man received an exasperated sigh for his trouble. “I <em> told </em> you, don’t <em> look—</em>” Oikawa was saying as he turned, presumably to point someone out to Kuroo, before finding himself face to face with Hajime, Shirofuku, Shimizu and the rest. Hajime didn’t even remember moving to the front. </p><p>And then Oikawa fucking <em> squeaked</em>, eyes darting around their faces, before landing on Kuroo’s—probably to glare at him, Hajime didn’t know. He was too distracted by how utterly fucking endearing that noise had been. </p><p>Bokuto had no such trouble. </p><p>“Yukippe!” he cheered, rushing forward to lift Shirofuku into a spinning hug, Shimizu managing to extract her arm from her girlfriend’s just in time. </p><p>Shirofuku laughed, and then swatted him lightly on the arm to put her down. “Hey, Kou,” she greeted. “So, what happened? Trying to make me onigiri and set your kitchen on fire?”</p><p>Although her tone was clearly teasing, by the time he put her back down, Bokuto was pouting. “Nuh-uh,” he declared. “It wasn’t my fault!”</p><p>“It kinda was,” Kuroo put in, grinning.</p><p>“It definitely was,” Oikawa muttered, drawing Hajime’s attention back to him. The taller man seemed unwilling to make eye contact with anyone, settling instead for throwing sidelong dark looks at his roommates.</p><p>“Whoa, hold on, it was also your fault,” Kuroo said with a grin, raising an eyebrow at Oikawa.</p><p>“Kuro-chan!” Oikawa gasped, whirling on his roommate with his hands on his hips. “After I <em> ruined </em> my cardigan saving your homework from Kou-chan—”</p><p>“Hey!” Bokuto said, indignant. “It wasn’t <em> my</em>—well, it wasn’t <em> just </em> my fault—”</p><p>“What I’m getting from this,” Hanamaki said, no small amount of amusement in his tone, “is that you <em> both </em> get to be chewed out by Iwaizumi.”</p><p>Hajime scowled at his friend, who gave him a completely unapologetic smirk. In front of them, Bokuto and Oikawa wore confused expressions, though Oikawa’s also seemed a touch haughty. Kuroo just looked amused.</p><p>“Who’s Iwaizumi?” Bokuto asked, blinking.</p><p>“Medium, dark and handsome right here,” Matsukawa said, clapping a hand on Iwaizumi’s shoulder. Wow. Hajime hated all his friends.</p><p>Unfortunately, he couldn’t entirely protest the description. Glancing around the assembled crowd of his friends—apparently, even if they were throwing him under the bus—and victims of his fury—loud and smirking and <em> pretty</em>—he quickly realised he was shorter than everyone except for Daichi, Sugawara, Shimizu and Shirofuku. It was a bit of a blow, considering that he was the oldest as well, at least excluding Apartment 324.</p><p>He glanced back at the troublemakers, and found himself being appraised by them. Bokuto, at least, had a wide-eyed gaze, all open curiosity and not a lick of guile. The same could not be said for the other two. He had a strong sense of being critically assessed, although Kuroo seemed to have a touch of amusement to him as he did so. Oikawa, however… Hajime didn’t know how to describe the look in his eyes. He’d never had anyone crack him open like a book, run their fingers down his spine, turn each of his pages carefully and commit all the words of him to memory, but he thought it might feel something like this.</p><p>He shivered, and that seemed to snap them out of it.</p><p>“Oh, you’re Daichi’s roommate, yeah?” Kuroo asked, a lazy grin on his face. “You play volleyball too, right? We should have a game some time.”</p><p>There was an easy, casual quality to his tone, as if he—or at least his flatmates—hadn’t just caused the entire building to be emptied a bit after two in the morning for setting off a fire alarm. Hajime was actually kind of impressed, despite himself.</p><p>“Aw <em> yeah</em>!” Bokuto let out, way too loudly.</p><p>“Bo, shut up,” Kuroo said, rolling his eyes. “There are probably people over in Kyoto trying to sleep.”</p><p>“Hey!” Bokuto said indignantly, but Hajime noticed his volume was slightly reduced. <em> Slightly</em>.</p><p>“Much better,” Kunimi murmured, sounding as sarcastic as usual. Hajime thought he probably couldn’t help himself.</p><p>“Kunimi-chan!” Oikawa said, peering into the mess of people, eyes lighting up. The entire group turned to raise an eyebrow at Kunimi, who blanched.</p><p>“Hello Oikawa-san,” he said blandly.</p><p>“I didn’t know my favourite kouhai was living in this hall too!” Oikawa said, sounding vaguely like he was admonishing Kunimi. Hajime didn’t think he’d ever heard anyone do it effectively before, though Kindaichi had said that their floor RA, Mizoguchi, kept yelling at Kunimi for sleeping instead of going to class.</p><p>“Yes, Kageyama is one of my roommates,” Kunimi replied. Hajime squinted. Kunimi’s expression didn’t exactly change, but he thought he caught a hint of mischief.</p><p>Then Oikawa squawked, and his suspicions were confirmed. “Kunimi-chan, don’t tease me!”</p><p>“He’s not,” Hanamaki inserted helpfully. “Kageyama’s definitely his roommate. He spent like two weeks following Iwaizumi like a duckling.”</p><p>“It was precious,” Matsukawa said agreeably.</p><p>Hajime found himself the focus of Oikawa’s gaze once again. “You mean to tell me Tobio-chan has imprinted on poor Iwa-chan? Oh, he’s so very rude—”</p><p>Hajime had the sense that Oikawa could have kept going, but interrupted him. “I<em>what</em>,” he said flatly.</p><p>Oikawa didn’t even have the good grace to look abashed. “Oikawa-san often struggles with people’s names,” Kunimi said. Oikawa squawked again, but Kunimi looked just as unrepentant as his upperclassman had when dubbing Iwaizumi with the ridiculous nickname.</p><p>“You should come play too,” Kuroo said with a grin to Kunimi, ignoring his roommate’s grumbling. “It’s too much to juggle if I have to knock them both down to size.”</p><p>Oikawa brightened at this. “Yes, Kunimi-chan, it’ll be fun to play together again, won’t it?”</p><p>Hajime felt like he’d entered a parallel universe. He’d thought they’d been meant to come over to yell at these idiots for waking them up at horrendous hours, and instead they were planning volleyball meet ups, Kunimi was <em> smiling </em> slightly, and he’d been given a rude nickname from the prettiest person he’d ever seen—and he’d lived next to <em>Semi Eita</em> his entire college life.</p><p>“As nice as all this is,” Shirofuku said, because she was the only one Hajime could count on, “I still want to know how you set off the fire alarm.”</p><p>“Also the last four times,” Matsukawa put in.</p><p>Shirofuku pointed at him. “Yeah, those too.”</p><p>Bokuto groaned. “Yukie, it was an accident,” he whined.</p><p>“Well, nobody thought you did it on purpose,” Daichi remarked.</p><p>“I suspected,” Hanamaki said. They all swivelled to stare at him. “What?” he shrugged. “You’d think after three times, they’d just give up on the kitchen completely and move on.”</p><p>“Bit defeatist, Hanamaki,” Daichi said, frowning.</p><p>“I think he has a point,” Matsukawa said.</p><p>“Of course you do,” Hajime muttered. Matsukawa grinned at him.</p><p>“This time,” Oikawa began, sounding disgruntled, “I had been <em> trying </em> to make ramen, and then something went wrong—the kitchen’s fault, obviously—”</p><p>“Obviously,” Kuroo said, dry as a bone.</p><p>Oikawa ignored him. “And the pot slightly… melted, so I turned off the stove, of course,” he continued.</p><p>“Of course,” Hanamaki echoed. Matsukawa was now shaking with silent laughter. Sugawara’s expression was amused, though Shimizu and Daichi looked alarmed by the words coming out of Oikawa’s mouth.</p><p>“Safety first, Makki,” Oikawa said with a nod. Matsukawa let out a choked laugh. At least he wasn’t the only one getting nicknames off the bat, Hajime thought, resigned. “And the whole situation had put me in distress, and my clothes were <em> wrecked</em>, so obviously I went to go shower and change. And then when I came back, Bokuto had set the kitchen on <em> fire</em>, and me, being the kind and gracious roommate I am, even for ungrateful <em> louts</em>—” he prodded Kuroo in the side, “—rescued Kuroo’s assignment, even though my cardigan caught fire doing so.”</p><p>“Oikawa Tooru and Bokuto Koutarou, setting kitchens and cheeks aflame since the nineties,” Kuroo said dryly.</p><p>Hajime blinked. There was a lot to unpack here.</p><p>“What, like you were burning down the kitchen?” Hanamaki said, raising an eyebrow at Bokuto.</p><p>“No!” he protested. “I was just hungry, and I thought I’d try to make ramen too.”</p><p>“Yeah, but he didn’t clean up anything, so he started making it in a kitchen that already had a melted pot, strewn ingredients, and no supervision,” Kuroo said with a laugh.</p><p>“Is the fire… out?” Daichi asked dubiously. Sugawara was leaning on him, laughing into his shoulder. Hajime thought he might have tears in his eyes.</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I grabbed the extinguisher when I smelled smoke and heard everything,” Kuroo said easily. “I’d been watching Kenma’s stream, but Oikawa’s shouting when he came back and saw everything on fire was louder.”</p><p>“And a <em> good thing</em>, too!” Oikawa sniffed.</p><p>“And a good thing,” Bokuto agreed brightly.</p><p>“Eh,” Kuroo said.</p><p>“What about the previous instances?” Shimizu asked curiously.</p><p>Kuroo laughed at the expressions Bokuto and Oikawa were exchanging. “Let’s just say neither of them can cook for shit,” he explained. “Honestly, they should be banned by law.”</p><p>“I really thought I had it this time,” Bokuto said, dejected.</p><p>“Next time, call me,” Shirofuku said, bumping his hip with hers. “Shimizu and I can come help you cook.”</p><p>“You just want to taste test,” Shimizu said, with a small smile.</p><p>“You bet I do,” Shirofuku said, grinning cheekily at her girlfriend and then Bokuto. “But also then poor Iwaizumi and Matsukawa will get the sleep they deserve.”</p><p>“I do deserve a lot of sleep,” Matsukawa said.</p><p>Oikawa looked chagrined. “Iwa-chan, Mattsun, I apologise for the inconvenience, especially Bokuto,” he said, ignoring the squawk beside him.</p><p>“Hey!” Bokuto said. “It’s your fault too! What d’you mean, especially?”</p><p>Matsukawa was blinking at his new nickname, but let a slow smile spread across his face. “It’s all right,” he said with a shrug. “Sorta worth it to see Iwaizumi get so grumpy. I was hoping his vein might pop out to yell at you, but you guys can just buy us all dinner instead.”</p><p>Oikawa frowned, but Bokuto nodded. “Done!” he said with a beam. “As long as we can play volleyball too!”</p><p>Takinoue, one of the RAs, clearly heard that as he approached, and raised an eyebrow. “Mizoguchi’s pretty inclined to not let you guys use the facilities for a while because of the call out fee for the firefighters,” he informed them. Bokuto’s expression dropped. “I don’t really care, though,” Takinoue continued, “because if you’re in the gym, at least you’re not in your kitchen. But seriously, you guys have <em> got </em> to stop setting it off. Keishin’ll throw you off a roof if it happens again, and I’ll help.”</p><p>Oikawa gave him a one-fingered salute. “Of course,” he said, Bokuto and Kuroo nodding at his side.</p><p>“Besides, I’ll beat you to it if they do it again,” Hajime grumbled, earning a laugh from Takinoue and a betrayed look from Oikawa.</p><p>“Mean, Iwa-chan!”</p><p>“You set the fire alarm off <em> five times </em> in a <em> month!” </em></p><p>“Not intentionally!”</p><p>“Does that <em> matter</em>—”</p><p>“When they stop arguing,” Hajime heard Takinoue say to Daichi, “let them know we’re heading back in, yeah?”</p><p>“Threatening violence against someone you just met! What a brute, Iwa-chan!”</p><p>“He’s very annoying,” Hajime said to Kuroo instead of replying to Oikawa himself.</p><p>“He is,” Kuroo agreed, ignoring Oikawa’s furious muttering.</p><p>“He also needs to find somewhere to stay for the night,” Daichi said. They all turned to face him, eyebrows raised.</p><p>“Apparently your apartment still has some fumes in it and you can’t go back until tomorrow—well, later today, technically,” Daichi explained.</p><p>For the first time since they’d met, Hajime saw Kuroo frown at his roommates. “Definitely banned from the kitchen,” he said.</p><p>“Sorry, Kuroo,” Bokuto said, hanging his head.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Kuroo said, waving him off. “Let’s focus on where to stay, hey?”</p><p>“You could go to Kenma’s,” Oikawa said slyly.</p><p>“I don’t really want to interrupt his stream,” Kuroo said, chewing his lip.</p><p>“Oh my god, Kuro-chan, you’re more important than his game,” Oikawa muttered. “You’re almost as bad as Ushiwaka.”</p><p>Hajime’s ears pricked. “Tendou’s boyfriend?” he asked curiously.</p><p>“Yeah!” Bokuto said. “Oikawa spent two weeks harassing Ushijima on the phone to ask out Tendou.”</p><p>“I wasn’t <em> harassing</em>—” Oikawa began, before being cut off by Kuroo.</p><p>“You totally were,” he snorted. “But it worked out, so who’s complaining?”</p><p>“Everyone should take my advice all the time,” Oikawa said serenely.</p><p>“No thanks,” Hajime said. “You shouldn’t give advice if you can’t use a pot without melting it.”</p><p>Oikawa scowled. “Listen, fire handling requires a <em> very </em> different skill set to people, romance and volleyball.”</p><p>“So you’re a people expert?” Hajime asked, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>“<em>Obviously</em>,” Oikawa sniffed.</p><p>“Stop flirting,” Kuroo grumbled. “We need to work out where to sleep—it’s fucking cold.”</p><p>“Go to Kenma’s!” Oikawa retorted.</p><p>“We’re <em> not </em> flirting,” Hajime muttered under his breath. Thankfully, only Daichi heard him, and sent him a sidelong grin.</p><p>“You can probably stay with Eita,” Hajime said to Kuroo instead, ignoring Daichi’s expression. “If you want to tune into your friend’s stream again, he’s never using his laptop at night because he’s always playing music around this time. I think both his roommates are out right now—I didn’t see Tendou out here earlier, and Kai went to visit his family for his mother’s birthday.”</p><p>“Oh, Kai Nobuyuki?” Kuroo asked, perking up. “I went to high school with him, he’d probably let me use his bed too.”</p><p>“Semi!” Matsukawa called out, spotting Hajime’s neighbour first.</p><p>“Yeah?” came an annoyed voice, soon followed by Eita himself, all raised eyebrows and blue scarf wrapped around his neck. His hair still looked perfect—if a little ridiculous with its dyed tips—despite the late hour.</p><p>“He always sounds like this,” Hanamaki assured Kuroo, while Hajime swallowed a grin.</p><p>“Can Kuroo stay with you tonight?” Hajime asked, leaning his head towards Kuroo. “His roommates were the idiots who set off the fire alarm and they’re not allowed to go back tonight. He went to school with Kai.”</p><p>Eita surveyed Kuroo carefully. Kuroo shot him a roguish grin, and Eita rolled his eyes, but there was something amused there. “Yeah, sure,” he said. “I need to practice some pieces, though, so it won’t be that quiet.”</p><p>Kuroo shrugged. “That’s cool, I’ve got a stream to watch anyway. And hey, after, you can serenade me to sleep.”</p><p>Eita laughed. “Hope you like Bruce Springsteen,” he said. “All right, come on.”</p><p>He headed back towards the stairs up to the apartments, and Kuroo gave a jaunty wave to the others before heading after him. </p><p>“Don’t forget—we’ll play, yeah?” he called out over his shoulder.</p><p>“Looking forward to kicking your ass again,” Daichi replied, waving.</p><p>“As if,” Kuroo snorted, before disappearing into the building.</p><p>“I’m going back to bed,” Sugawara said, before giving Bokuto and Oikawa an apologetic look. “I’d let you guys stay with me, but when I left my apartment, all my roommates were there and Moniwa’s friend Kamasaki was on the couch. There’s not much space around him, I’m afraid.”</p><p>“Oh, you could stay with Akaashi, right?” Shirofuku said suddenly, turning to Bokuto. His eyes lit up, before he shrunk into himself a little.</p><p>“He might be mad that I set my apartment on fire,” Bokuto said mournfully.</p><p>Shirofuku rolled her eyes. “He won’t be mad,” she said, clicking her tongue. “At most, he’ll be resigned, but he <em> will </em> be mad if you don’t get any sleep because you’re too scared to tell him you set your kitchen on fire.”</p><p>“What hall does he live in?” Daichi asked, curious.</p><p>“Same as Kenma,” Oikawa supplied. “Uchizawa.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s just next door,” Sugawara said, looking more relaxed. “That’s not far at all.”</p><p>Shirofuku looked up from where she’d been tapping on her phone. “Akaashi says to come over, Kou.”</p><p>“You told him? Yukippe!”</p><p>“Yep,” she said, popping her lips on the end of the word. “I still haven’t had my 2am snack yet, and I don’t want to share with you, so off you go.”</p><p>“Can we make onigiri tomorrow?” Bokuto asked.</p><p>“Sure, but you’re buying the ingredients because you’re not going to be helping much with the assembly,” Shirofuku said with a snort.</p><p>“Deal!” Bokuto said with a beam. “I’ll bring Akaashi!”</p><p>He started to head off, before pausing. “Wait, Oikawa, where will you stay?”</p><p>All eyes turned to the alien-pyjamas-clad man.</p><p>“Hmm, I suppose I could stay with Kunimi-chan?” he posited, sounding thoughtful, though Hajime thought he heard a hint of insecurity beneath it all. He blinked, startled.</p><p>“You could,” Kunimi said, sounding incredibly unenthusiastic about the idea. “But you’d also be staying with Kageyama.”</p><p>Oikawa’s brow furrowed incredibly deeply. “It’s okay!” he said brightly. “I would never want to intrude on Tobio-chan’s sleeping arrangements—I know he needs a lot of rest to get to be able to play to his best! I’ll go to the gym.”</p><p>“What, to sleep?” Hanamaki asked incredulously.</p><p>“No, to practice,” Oikawa said, as if it was the obvious answer for what to do at quarter to three in the morning.</p><p>“You can’t practice all night, especially without rest,” Hajime said before he could stop himself. “You’ll hurt yourself that way, don’t be a dumbass.”</p><p>“Aw, are you my mother, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa asked.</p><p>Hajime gaped at him.</p><p>“Sorry, sorry!” Oikawa said with a tinkling laugh. Hajime found himself missing the squawks from earlier.</p><p>“He’s right,” Daichi said, drawing their attention. “It’s dangerous.”</p><p>“It’s fine, really,” Oikawa said, unnaturally upbeat. “I didn’t get as much time to practice this month anyway!”</p><p>“<em>No</em>,” Hajime said incredulously. “Don’t be stupid.”</p><p>Oikawa drew himself up, probably to ask Hajime exactly who he thought he was, interfering in the life of this person he’d only just met and hadn’t exactly had a high opinion of before this interaction, when Hajime’s mouth started moving without his permission again.</p><p>“You can stay with us,” he said. He felt Daichi glance at him sidelong, but his roommate nodded.</p><p>Oikawa looked at Hajime, mouth slightly agape. It was a startlingly vulnerable expression for someone who, in the short time Hajime had known him, seemed to do everything with all the surety in the world, and refused to apologise for whoever he was.</p><p>Then it cleared, and he gave Hajime a bright grin that had him groaning preemptively.</p><p>“Ah, Iwa-chan, I <em> knew </em> you liked me! Iwa-chan was thinking that he couldn’t let me waste away in the gym—”</p><p>“I take it back,” Hajime grumbled. “You can sleep in the gym.”</p><p>Oikawa, however, ignored him, continuing to prattle on. Everyone ignored him, actually, nodding at each other like it was settled. Which, Hajime supposed, it was. He would never actually retract the offer.</p><p>“All right, I’m going to Akaashi’s,” Bokuto said cheerily. “I’ll text you when I get there, Yukippe!”</p><p>“Can’t wait,” Shirofuku said, but she was grinning. “Give Akaashi a hug for me!”</p><p>“I will!” he called out over his shoulder, before breaking into a run.</p><p>“Isn’t it like two hundred metres away or something?” Sugawara wondered, watching him sprint.</p><p>“Yeah,” Daichi said, chuckling.</p><p>“C’mon, sleeping beauty,” Hanamaki said, nudging Matsukawa. “Let’s get you back to bed.”</p><p>“My prince charming,” Matsukawa murmured, loosely slinging his arms around Hanamaki’s shoulders in a very relaxed hug from behind.</p><p>“I’ll fight any trio of evil witches for your sleeping rights,” Hanamaki bantered back, pulling him towards the stairs.</p><p>Oikawa frowned as he watched them go. “Did he just call me an evil witch?”</p><p>“Yes, Oikawa-san,” Kunimi said. He gave Hajime a highly amused look, presumably to do with how quickly he’d folded with letting Oikawa stay with him and Daichi. Hajime scowled back.</p><p>“I am going to go find Kageyama,” Kunimi announced. “I don’t know that he knows how fire alarms work, so fingers crossed he did not end up locked in a closet again.”</p><p>“Again?” Daichi echoed.</p><p>“Tsukishima gets very impatient when we are all in Yamaguchi’s room and Hinata and Kageyama are fighting.” Kunimi affected an expression of sadness. “He is still trying to find a closet large enough for Goshiki, Koganegawa, Lev, Hinata and Kageyama all at once. It is his quest.”</p><p>“His quest…” Daichi repeated. Sugawara laughed.</p><p>“Good night, Iwaizumi-san, Sugawara-san, Shimizu-san, Shirofuku-san, Sawamura-san, Oikawa-san. Sweet dreams,” Kunimi said as he left, looking, in Hajime’s opinion, entirely too nonchalant about the idea of finding one of his roommates in a closet. Hajime felt a pulse of sympathy for Kindaichi, having to live with both Kunimi and Kageyama.</p><p>They all ended up trailing after him, Shimizu, Sugawara and Shirofuku turning down the opposite corridor to them, heading to their rooms on the other side of the floor. Hajime and Daichi led Oikawa to their apartment, entering with a sense of relief.</p><p>“I’ve got spare bedding in the cupboard,” Daichi said, before disappearing into the bathroom. Hajime padded over to the cupboard and pulled out a set of sheets, two pillows and a thick duvet. He dropped them on the longest couch, unfurling the sheets and tucking them in.</p><p>“Thank you,” Oikawa said after a moment, startling Hajime from making up the couch for him.</p><p>Hajime shrugged, looking away. “I figure if you can’t cook ramen, you probably can’t make a bed,” he said instead of the words on the tip of his tongue, which were <em> you look like you need some kindness. </em></p><p>Oikawa scrunched up his nose. “Rude, Iwa-chan,” he said, but there was no heat behind it.</p><p>Hajime cleared his throat. Something about the softness of Oikawa’s voice right now made it all feel much more intimate than it was. “Don’t call me that,” he grumbled, though he was aware his voice also lacked heat. He put it down to tiredness. After all, because of this silly, pretty idiot in front of him, he was still up at 3am when he had morning classes.</p><p>“Do you have morning classes?” he asked. Dimly, he was aware of Daichi leaving the bathroom and slipping into his bedroom.</p><p>“I’m meant to have morning practice,” Oikawa said, “but no classes until ten.”</p><p>Hajime frowned. “Morning practice?”</p><p>“Our transfer still has some kinks on the sports side, so we haven’t been assigned to any teams that run from the Sakanoshita gym yet,” Oikawa explained. “Our previous coach said we could keep practicing with them, but we’re only allowed to play for two. Bokuto and I usually play on the full college team too, but we hadn’t decided yet if we’d stick to our last hall's one, or switch here when we’re allowed.”</p><p>God. If Oikawa and Bokuto were playing for their full college team, given how fucking huge their university was, they probably wanted to go pro. Hajime was kind of impressed, despite himself. He’d loved volleyball, but he knew he wanted to go into medicine, not professional volleyball, and even if he could make it onto the full team, there was no way he’d have time to do it. He liked playing in the Sakanoshita team though for the internal games. He wondered what Oikawa would be like to play with. Bokuto and Kuroo too, though he had a feeling he could guess how they played from how they acted. He didn’t have as easy a guess for Oikawa, and that intrigued him.</p><p>“Maybe you should skip this once,” Hajime said instead, rubbing his hand at the nape of his neck. “You could do with some rest after a night like that.”</p><p>“So caring, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa teased.</p><p>“Shut up,” Hajime grumbled. “I’ll see you in the morning, yeah?”</p><p>Oikawa raised an eyebrow. “Scared I’ll leave you before breakfast?” he asked, purring slightly. Hajime flushed, but glowered at him.</p><p>“I have a morning class, dumbass,” he said. “And seeing as I don’t want to wake up to anything <em> else </em> on fire, I thought I’d make the food so you don’t either try to flood my kitchen when pouring milk and cereal or set the common room on fire by failing to boil water correctly.”</p><p>“Aw, Iwa-chan’s going to cook for me?” Oikawa asked, cocking his head, hand on his hip.</p><p>“Shut up, Crappykawa,” he grumbled again. “Good night,” he continued, over Oikawa’s squawks of protest at the nickname, as he headed into his room.</p><p>“Good night, Iwa-chan!” he heard Oikawa call behind him. “Looking forward to our breakfast date!”</p><p>Closing his door, he smiled despite himself.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>did you guys know bokuto's taller than oikawa and hanamaki? the things you learn when you have a meltdown over the heights of fictional high school volleyball players</p><p>i'm always down to yell over these kids, whether here or on <a href="https://billdenbrough.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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